Air Jordan 4 Returns for Summer 17

Jordan Brand is looking to revive the Air Jordan 4 in a major way this summer with the release of the Air Jordan 4 “Alternate Motorsport”, Air Jordan 4 “Pure Money”, Air Jordan 4 “Motorsports” and the anticipated Air Jordan 4 “Kaws”.

When it originally released in 1989, the Air Jordan IV was the coolest Air Jordan ever. That’s not hyperbole — and not that type of “cool.” No, the Air Jordan IV was literally cool, having a very similar shape to its 1988 predecessor, but replacing tumbled leather with lighter nubuck and ventilating the upper with mesh-filled cutouts. If the Air Jordan III was a luxury sports car, the IV was its stripped-down, full-race, lightweight counterpart.

Like the III, the Jordan IV was designed by Tinker Hatfield. Unlike the III, it didn’t represent an entirely new start. Instead it was more of an evolution. “With the IV, I kind of went away from the exotic and went more technical,” Hatfield says. “There’s not a big inspirational story, it’s a little bit more like, ‘we’re gonna do this new mesh, we’re gonna make this a little lighter, and it’s still gonna look a little different.’”

It looked very different, actually, with its plastic wings, exaggerated heel tab and those hard-to-miss mesh panels. The Air Jordan IV featured huge NIKE AIR branding on the external heel counter and a nylon patch — featuring “Flight” lettering underneath the soaring logo — replacing the Jumpman tongue embroidery. Even the midsole and outsole was more aggressive than its predecessor.

“The IV was meant to be a little more utilitarian,” Hatfield says. “Like ‘OK Michael, first year, whoa! Second year, gonna go out and kick some ass.’” He did just that, leading his team to its first playoff series victory and hitting what would become known as “The Shot” in Cleveland to close out the deciding Game Five.

Since then, the Air Jordan IV has been eclipsed in many performance areas but 18 years after its initial introduction, it’s still hard to find a cooler Air Jordan — “cool” in both senses. This season, Jordan Brand will keep your summertime hustle on point with a variety of Air Jordan IV releases to look fly on and off the court.